When the crippled cruise ship Triumph arrived in Mobile late Thursday the passengers and crew were greeted with a dose of southern hospitality in the form of a Krispy Kreme Doughnut. (Press-Register file photo)

MOBILE, Alabama -- When the 4,229 people stranded on the crippled Carnival cruise ship Triumph stepped onto the dock at Mobile, Ala., Thursday night they were greeted by a familiar measure of local hospitality – Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

When the passengers and crew disembarked after nearly a week adrift at sea they were greeted by more than 800 dozen fresh glazed doughnuts delivered by the local Krispy Kreme Doughnut store. That translates into 9,600 (or 2.27 doughnuts per person) of the familiar Southern confection that is the signature doughnut for Krispy Kreme.

The idea to deliver the doughnuts to the city’s new guests was that of Mac McAleer, the owner of the Mobile franchise and a former executive with the North Carolina-based doughnut chain. McAleer is a Mobile native who stepped back from the corporation in 1999 and now owns the local store, along with outlets in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La.

His motivation was simple. “It was just a little southern hospitality from Mobile for those poor folks who were stranded onboard that ship. God bless them is all I can say,” he said.

It took about four hours for the crew at the Mobile Krispy Kreme store to bake and package the doughnuts, McAleer said. They delivered them to the Alabama Cruise Terminal by early evening.

“Our folks jumped right in and did what needed to be done. It’s just nice sometimes to be kind,” he said.